Connections Newsletter Archive

A new study from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Sesame Workshop explores the potential of cell phones to revolutionize teaching and learning. Research from the William and Ida Friday Institute at North Carolina State University outlines the potential of 1:1 technology environments, and The Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston launches “Ask the Mediatrician.”

A review of Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways to See the World. This book makes a historical journey through the development of a wide array of map projections and map types to help the reader recognize how maps reflect back to us our perceptions of the world. Issue also includes information about the National Council for the Social Sciences and their call for media literacy education.

Media Literacy in the science classroom. Includes articles on The Journey North: Turning Students into International Field Scientists a new book to help students learn Media and Science Literacy Skills, and Partnership for 21st Century Skills publishes Skills Map for Science.

The British Government releases an ambitious new plan for its media and communications industries, including a national plan for media literacy education. Also, the British Office of Communications audit entitled Digital Lifestyles.

What is clear is that the majority of media offer images of beauty to young girls which are virtually impossible to attain. Many of those images also offer a hyper-sexualized model of feminine identity for girls to emulate. In this issue, you’ll find reviews of two films from the Media Education Foundation which will help you discuss issues of media, sexuality and gender identity with your students and children.

In March 2008, the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology convened an information session on media literacy that was open to all department employees. Kimberly Brodie, Special Assistant in the Office of Educational Technology, led the discussion. Tessa Jolls of the Consortium was an invited speaker, as well as Doug Levin of Cable in the Classroom, the U.S. cable industry’s education foundation. This conference is a first-time acknowledgment by the Department that media literacy -- education that focuses on new technologies as a subject for study -- should be considered for inclusion in the Department’s agenda.